sanchez

WBA middleweight beltholder Gennady Golovkin “beats” RING super middleweight champion Andre Ward if they were to meet, according to Golovkin’s trainer, Abel Sanchez, who ranks the 160-pounder behind Sugar Ray Robinson and Bernard Hopkins as the best in the division’s history.

Reports that Magomed Abdusalamov “had passed away” are “false,” according to the Russian heavyweight’s co-promoter Nathan Lewkowicz. Abdusalamov has been in a coma since suffering a brain bleed during his loss to Mike Perez on Nov. 2.

Junior welterweight Ruslan Provodnikov, who will face WBO beltholder Mike Alvarado on Oct. 19, said that he is pulling for both Tim Bradley and Manny Pacquiao in their respective fights with Juan Manuel Marquez and Brandon Rios.

Abel Sanchez, the trainer of WBA middleweigiht beltholder Gennady Golovkin, gave RingTV.com’s Lem Satterfield his thoughts on the stacked middleweight division. A showdown between Golovkin and fellow puncher Curtis Stevens is close to being finalized for Nov. 2.

Abel Sanchez doesn’t think his middleweight Gennady Golovkin will ever get a shot at RING champ Sergio Martinez: “I think that they’ve made a comment about fighting Gennady Golovkin in about September of 2014. That’s like saying that he doesn’t want to fight him.”

Junior welterweight/lightweight contender Denis Shafikov, former lightweight titleholder Juan Diaz, and junior welterweight Jose Carlos Ramirez all won by knockout on Saturday night during a Top Rank-promoted event in Laredo, Texas.

Unbeaten WBC featherwieght titleholder Abner Mares on his Aug. 24 fight with veteran two-division beltholder Jhonny Gonzalez: “You will see a different Abner Mares. I can’t wait to show that I’m one of the elite.”

The promoter of WBA middleweight beltholder Gennady Golovkin, owner of a 14-fight knockout streak, said the unbeaten fighter could answer the trash talk of Curtis Stevens by facing him later this year.